Annie Hall(1977)

Plot Summary

• Comedian Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) recalls an old joke with a lesson he's carried with him: life is full of pain and misery and suffering, but it's all over much too quickly. Alvy's feelings on love are encapsulated by another classic joke, attributed to Groucho Marx: "I would never want to belong to any club that would have someone like me as a member."Alvy is trying to understand why his relationship with Annie Hall (Diane Keaton) ended a year ago. Growing up in New York, Alvy vexed his mother (Joan Newman) with impossible questions about the emptiness of existence. Alvy's family lived underneath the roller coaster at Coney Island and Alvy developed a nervous personality as a result. Alvy's father (Mordecai Lawner) ran the bumper cars at Coney Island. In school, Alvy had bad teachers and worse classmates. At age six, Alvy kissed a girl in class, demonstrating what adult Alvy recalls as a healthy sexual curiosity.Annie and Alvy are standing in line to see a film; Annie is in a bad mood and Alvy is only focusing on himself. Annie believes Alvy is egocentric and sees every event in other's lives in relation to how it affects him. Annie and Alvy are having trouble in bed, but Alvy is reluctant to talk about it. Nearby, another moviegoer loudly pontificates on the work of Marshall McLuhan, before Alvy brings McLuhan himself in to correct him.That night, Annie isn't interested in having sex with Alvy; instead, they discuss Alvy's first wife, Allison (Carol Kane). Allison and Alvy had met at a political convention where Allison was an organizer and Alvy was a comic. In bed, Alvy would rather discuss the minutiae of the JFK assassination than have sex, leaving Allison neglected. Alvy recalls the Groucho joke and questions his capacity for love.Alvy's second marriage was to a New York intellectual, Robin (Janet Margolin); Alvy was more interested in watching basketball than mingling at parties. Robin was not interested in having sex with Alvy and would always reduce his sexual urges to psychoanalytical stereotypes.Annie and Alvy have uproarious fun preparing a lobster dinner together. Alvy teases Annie over the men she's dated, including Dennis, a boy from her high school, and Jerry, a pretentious actor.Their first meeting: Alvy plays tennis with his friend Rob (Tony Roberts) and meets Annie on the court. Alvy and Annie chat afterwards; Annie offers Alvy a ride and the two share a glass of wine on her balcony. Privately, in their inner monologues, Alvy wonders what Annie looks like naked, while Annie hopes Alvy doesn't turn out to be another schmuck. Their first date begins with Annie's audition as a singer in a night club, performing "It Had to be You", but Annie is humiliated by the performance. Afterwards, Alvy suggests they kiss now, to avoid the anxiety and enjoy their date together. In bed that night, Annie relaxes with a joint.Annie admits she loves Alvy; Alvy insists his feelings for Annie are more than just love. Annie moves in with Alvy but the mood is tense; Alvy is always pushing Annie to take college courses, which Annie takes as an insult. Alvy feels that Annie is "removed" during sex if she can't smoke a joint beforehand.Alvy visits Annie's family in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, for Easter. Alvy gets the cold shoulder from Annie's anti-Semitic grandmother. Alvy's imagined conversation between his and Annie's families reveals a gulf in style, substance, and background. In private, Annie's brother Duane (Christopher Walken) opens up to Alvy, describing his unsettling intrusive thoughts.Alvy finds Annie arm-in-arm with one of her college professors and argues with Annie whether this is the flexibility they had discussed. Alvy searches for the truth of relationships, asking strangers on the street about the nature of love, questioning his formative years. Alvy returns to dating but his efforts are marred by neurosis and bad sex.Annie calls Alvy in the middle of the night, asking him to come over immediately. Alvy rushes over and helps Annie kill a gross big spider. A reconciliation follows and Alvy and Annie promise to stay together, but separate discussions with their therapists reveal a troubling schism.Alvy is invited to present an award on television and flies out to Los Angeles, which he despises. Alvy suddenly and inexplicably falls ill, but feels better the moment he cancels on the gig. Annie's singing earns the attention of record producer Tony Lacey (Paul Simon) and she attends a swanky California party with Alvy. On the flight home, Alvy and Annie both agree their relationship isn't working.Alvy loses Annie to Los Angeles but regrets their decision and flies to California to win her back. Alvy meets Annie at a restaurant on Sunset Blvd. and unsuccessfully attempts to rekindle the flame with a marriage proposal. Annie says no and the two part ways. Back in New York, Alvy writes a play and includes their Sunset Blvd. meeting as a scene, but alters the ending: now, she accepts his proposal.Alvy wistfully recalls bumping into Annie later and catching up, reflecting on their good times, sharing a few laughs. Alvy concludes: love is essential, even if it's crazy.

Storyline

• Alvy Singer, a forty year old twice divorced, neurotic, intellectual Jewish New York City stand-up comic, reflects on the demise of his latest relationship, to Annie Hall, an insecure, flighty, Midwestern WASP aspiring nightclub singer. Unlike his previous relationships, Alvy believed he may have worked out all the issues in his life through fifteen years of therapy to make this relationship with Annie last, among those issues being not wanting to date any woman that would want to date him, and thus subconsciously pushing those women away. Alvy not only reviews the many ups and many downs of their relationship, but also reviews the many facets of his makeup that led to him starting to date Annie. Those facets include growing up next to Coney Island in Brooklyn, being attracted to the opposite sex for as long as he can remember, and enduring years of Jewish guilt with his constantly arguing parents. — Huggo Comedian Alvy Singer examines the rise and fall of his relationship with struggling nightclub singer Annie Hall. Speaking directly to the audience in front of a bare background, Singer reflects briefly on his childhood and his early adult years before settling in to tell the story of how he and Annie met, fell in love, and struggled with the obstacles of modern romance, mixing surreal fantasy sequences with small moments of emotional drama. — Jwelch5742 The story of comedian Alvy Singer is recounted through a series of flashbacks that examines where his relationship with the titular lady all went wrong. Annie Hall is a aspiring nightclub singer and Alvy is a struggling writer and one day the two meet, hit it off together and eventually fall in love. The trial and tribulations of this modern romance highlights the comedy, emotion and sadness the two go through. — Kyle Perez Romantic adventures of neurotic New York City comedian Alvy Singer and his equally neurotic girlfriend Annie Hall. The film traces the course of their relationship from their first meeting, and serves as an interesting historical document about love in the 1970s. — Scott Renshaw <as.idc@forsythe.stanford.edu> 1 more See all